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Mapping Techniques for an Automated Library Classification: The Case Study of Library Loans at Bibliotheca Hertziana

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Linking Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries (TPDL 2024)

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Abstract

This paper introduces an innovative analytical method for visualising research libraries, overcoming the limitations of the assumptions made by their classification systems. The approach combines user loan data with deep mapping techniques to graphically display usage patterns and thematic clusters. Dimensionality reduction is used to visualise the catalogue by book loans, and prompt engineering with large language models is used to describe loan clusters with detailed summaries and titles. This approach was applied to the library collection owned by Bibliotheca Hertziana, a renowned research institute for art history based in Rome. The final output was assessed by a group of experts through interviews supported by an atlas providing statistical information on clusters. This yielded promising results towards a more general framework for visually mapping textual collections and capturing their transformation and usage from an interdisciplinary perspective.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    More information about Bibliotheca Hertziana at http://www.biblhertz.it/.

  2. 2.

    Details of the questionnaire, answers, and code repository can be found in [7].

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Acknowledgments

This research has been supported by Bibliotheca Hertziana - Max Planck Institute for Art History under project number BH-P-23-40.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Hannah Laureen Casey

  2. Bibliotheca Hertziana - Max Planck Institute for Art History, Rome, Italy

    Hannah Laureen Casey & Alessandro Adamou

  3. University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Dario Rodighiero

Authors
  1. Hannah Laureen Casey
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  2. Alessandro Adamou
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  3. Dario Rodighiero
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hannah Laureen Casey .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Salford, Salford, UK

    Apostolos Antonacopoulos

  2. University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Annika Hinze

  3. Sorbonne University (CNRS), Paris, France

    Benjamin Piwowarski

  4. University of La Rochelle (L3i Laboratory), La Rochelle, France

    Mickaël Coustaty

  5. University of Padova, Padua, Italy

    Giorgio Maria Di Nunzio

  6. University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Francesco Gelati

  7. University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Nicholas Vanderschantz

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Casey, H.L., Adamou, A., Rodighiero, D. (2024). Mapping Techniques for an Automated Library Classification: The Case Study of Library Loans at Bibliotheca Hertziana. In: Antonacopoulos, A., et al. Linking Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries. TPDL 2024. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 15177. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-72437-4_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-72437-4_8

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